Host doubled pricing after inquiry -- grrr

1

This is a gripe post. I went to book a place and contacted the host to ask about something in the listing. The host said they’d have to check and get back to me in the a.m. Then within the hour, the host doubled the nightly rate for the dates I inquired. Still didn’t get back to me on the question, but I was still looking at properties and so I messaged and said, wait, I saw you just doubled the rate, is that accurate? The host said, we are trying out some new software and it got squirrely. My response was to ask, okay, so what is the rate then?

He replied the new rate and that it’s a busy week, blah blah blah. Basically, once he saw someone was interested, he woke up and decided to pay attention. Note the dates I inquire about are in December, like NEXT MONTH.

The kicker is this host’s profile says they have multiple Airbnb properties and this is the first one they are managing themselves. His excuse is just lame.

I didn’t book his place, found another, equally charming place for the same rate, so I’m not harmed here, but it is frustrating and poor form, in my opinion. I can’t stand it when people don’t honor their prices for an active inquiry and know some hosts here will disagree. As a guest, this practice sucks.

2 Likes
2

As a guest I have found plenty of Airbnb hosts are sorely lacking. I don’t book those places but even the places I book have room for improvement.

Now tell me you’re going to be stalking his listing to see if he gets booked. :crazy_face: Also update us if he follows up with an offer.

6 Likes
3

Haha, so TRUE. I will. I’ve checked the hotels, other Airbnbs and his pricing is delusional so I hope he doesn’t get booked and maybe that’s what he really wants…a price so high he won’t get booked – now that he’s finally woken up.

1 Like
4

I’ll admit that I’ve never changed prices on someone who seemed like they wanted to book but I’ve raised prices to discourage a booking if they don’t book within 24 hours. And of course I’ve blocked days to keep someone from booking after they inquired. But I always wait at least an hour or so. If it’s during the holidays maybe he’s decided working during the holidays isn’t that great and that if he does it it really needs to be worthwhile.

2 Likes
5

Wow, that’s…one way to make money I guess? But yeah, pretty rude.
I’ll admit I really raise the prices on Dec 30 and 31st b/c I don’t want my spaces booked for new years parties. Any other day of the year, I’m happy to have the business and welcome guests.

1 Like
6

I wouldn’t feel good about doing this if I were the Host, but there’s at least one other Host on this forum who says that they routinely increase the price after an inquiry. So, keep that in mind when making an inquiry. Or even confirm in your inquiry that the price won’t change (don’t know if that will help).

Some Hosts like me have a pricing service, which will change the prices. So that could happen, though I’d be very surprised to see it double the price.

2 Likes
7

Really good way to piss off guests and give Airbnb a bad name. My place is easy- I have the same price every day of the year, but I realize a lot of hosts want to stay as fully booked as possible, take advantage of being able to charge more for holiday or event dates, and lower during slow season.

There are a few instances where I wouldn’t fault a host for doing this- there are sometimes Airbnb glitches, and I would forgive a brand new host who didn’t realize that discounts are cumulative, so may have the 20% new listing discount and then be offering a 40% monthly discount, then be shocked when they find the price turns up as a 60% discount. If it’s obvious that the price is too good to be true, and the host would probably not be making any profit, I would be sympathetic if they messaged that to me.

But generally, yes, it’s really bad form,and I also don’t understand raising the price if a host gets an inquiry. That seems very unprofessional.

2 Likes
12

But it is not against Airbnb TOS. I often raise rates after an inquiry if the guest is undesirable in some way e.g. asking for a 7 am check in and 9 pm check out.

Or if the dates are high demand. I will quickly analyze the supply situation to check the potential to raise rates.

One way as a guest to avoid this issue is if you see a great price, book the refundable rate if available and then ask questions. You can always cancel if it is not a good fit.